Eric Meijers’ name has been ringing a bell to many Dutch people since September 2018. The 57-year-old trainer, currently employed by second divisionist Spakenburg, gained national fame through a documentary about Achilles’29, which showed how he called Robbert te Loeke into the now famous ‘cunt keeper’. Football zone visited Meijers to talk to him about this incident, his current club Spakenburg, the issue about Ajax goalkeeper André Onana and the question of who should be under the bar at the Dutch national team during the European Championship next summer.
By Kalum van Oudheusden & Mounir Boualin
Not a day goes by that Meijers is not reminded of the word ‘cunt keeper’. If only because in his own museum he has several relics that were made in the following years as a reference to the now famous passage in the documentary about Achilles’29. “Yes, it is a pity on the one hand. Because you want to be known for your achievements. This is also an achievement that I have delivered ”, laughs Meijers. The fragment in question shows how Meijers repeatedly calls his goalkeeper Te Loeke ‘cunt keeper’. In the same passage, he also lashes out against a journalist from the Gelderlander, which he labels as ‘cunt newspaper’.
“I didn’t act on stage then either. I think people see that. I had a transmitter on my chest for a year and a half, then you sometimes forget things. We made an agreement that they wouldn’t come into the locker room. That did not happen ten times out of ten. But before you know it, they are on the edge of the locker room. That does not interest you anymore, then you are busy with other things. Then it escalated enormously. That was the result of the pressure that you were working under at that time, ”says Meijers. Achilles’29 was relegated in 2017 from the Kitchen Champion Division. “That with that keeper was not wise. Only it came from my heart. If you used to play football on the street, there were twelve boys and you played toss, there was one left and he had to go keep. Yes, that’s history. ”
Meijers was initially afraid that the incident would affect his image. “But in the end it brought me a lot of good. I have nothing to hide. A cunt keeper is a snapshot. If a striker misses an opportunity, it’s a shit striker. But that does not mean that it is a shit striker. Robbert te Loeke is not a shitty keeper, but he was a shitty keeper at the time. That’s just how our sport works. ”
How does Meijers view two goalkeeper issues that are currently playing? First of all, Onana, who is serving a 12-month doping suspension. How would he deal with that as a trainer? “If you work at that level, you have to be strong as a trainer. You have to keep going your own course, because you are influenced by all kinds of people how to deal with such a situation. I think Erik ten Hag does that very well, he is a top trainer in my eyes. It is difficult to say how I would react to that. I think it is something between the club and Onana, as a trainer you should not interfere too much with that. He is now not part of the team and I have always learned that you should focus on the healthy, not the injured. ”
And who in his eyes should be the goalkeeper of the Dutch at the European Championship next summer? “I am easy at this: I think Jasper Cillessen has always done well in the Dutch. He is injured now, but I expect he will come back strong. He has never failed in sixty international matches. Cillessen is number one in the Netherlands ”, says Meijers. “You have to be clear with keepers. If Cillessen is not going to play for the next six months, you will have a problem. Drommel and Bijlow are not there yet. They can do well for a period, but the Dutch national team is a different level. Experience is very important in this respect, those guys are lagging behind in that respect. You can only catch up by keeping, then you have to have a national coach who gives Bijlow or Drommel the chance. They are a bit off the level of Cillessen and Stekelenburg. ”
Watch the full interview with Eric Meijers here.
Meijers himself has been at home for months. Amateur football, including the Second Division in which his club Spakenburg plays, has been stopped since October. The KNVB decided on Wednesday that the competitions for first teams in the A-category (the Second Division to the Fifth Division) will not be resumed. “It is very cruel that for us football has come to a standstill and that one floor higher it is possible to play football and train. Football is a profession for us, especially in the Second Division. You talk about guys who have to do a lot for it, we are at the club four or five times a week. As a result, you can hardly speak about amateur football. That makes it very painful that the Second Division has been shut down. ”
“It is very difficult, a number of clubs are requesting support”, Meijers continues. “There is no income, sponsors are dropping out. That does something to the club and the people. The clubs will never benefit from it, but will have to spar with each other to look for creative and innovative solutions. Certain guidelines have been established between paid and amateur football, while I think this should be one pyramid. I’ve been saying that for thirty years. It must be possible to be relegated from the Kitchen Champion Division, we still have not been able to do that. ”
Meijers has been at the helm of Spakenburg since 2019, having previously worked at VVSB, Achilles’29, JVC Cuijk and Helmond Sport, among others. “My ambition is to become champion of the Netherlands with Spakenburg. There are good people, there is peace and a good culture. Everything indicates that we can compete with the top teams. I find it difficult to think far ahead, because I now know that a lot can happen in a year. It is clear that Eric Meijers will still be on the football field in five years’ time. ”